"The Eastern Sierra has seen its share of powerful winds, but the gusts that blew through much of California on Nov. 30, 2011, were particularly ferocious. The same wind event that pummeled the greater Pasadena area in Southern California was even fiercer in the Eastern Sierra, toppling thousands of trees in the Middle Fork San Joaquin River watershed of the Inyo National Forest (INF). The epic level of devastation has led to a recovery effort that’s become known, unofficially, as “Operation Blowdown.”